Welcome • User Guide
ToS • Privacy • Canary
Donate • Bugs • License

©2025 Poal.co

The Irish doctor, Barry O’Meara, recorded Napoleon doubting the wisdom of going to war with China:

“It would be the worst thing you have done for a number of years, to go to war with an immense empire like China, and possessing so many resources. You would doubtless, at first, succeed, take what vessels they have, and destroy their trade; but you would teach them their own strength. They would be compelled to adopt measures to defend themselves against you; they would consider, and say, ‘We must try to make ourselves equal to this nation. Why should we suffer a people, so far away, to do as they please with us? We must build ships, we must put guns into them, we must render ourselves equal to them.’ They would,” continued the emperor, “get artificers and ship-builders from France and America, even from London; they would build a fleet, and, in the course of time, defeat you.”

Napoleon spoke very highly of China, he described her as a sleeping lion, the emperor spoke to those who wished to take from China saying instead of going to war with her, monopolize the trade, and go to war with those who wish to have relations with them.

The Irish doctor, Barry O’Meara, recorded Napoleon doubting the wisdom of going to war with China: “It would be the worst thing you have done for a number of years, to go to war with an immense empire like China, and possessing so many resources. You would doubtless, at first, succeed, take what vessels they have, and destroy their trade; but you would teach them their own strength. They would be compelled to adopt measures to defend themselves against you; they would consider, and say, ‘We must try to make ourselves equal to this nation. Why should we suffer a people, so far away, to do as they please with us? We must build ships, we must put guns into them, we must render ourselves equal to them.’ They would,” continued the emperor, “get artificers and ship-builders from France and America, even from London; they would build a fleet, and, in the course of time, defeat you.” Napoleon spoke very highly of China, he described her as a sleeping lion, the emperor spoke to those who wished to take from China saying instead of going to war with her, monopolize the trade, and go to war with those who wish to have relations with them.

(post is archived)

You are currently inside a comment thread.
Click here to see all the comments (2).
[–] • 0 pt (edited )

Why should we suffer a people, so far away, to do as they please with us?

Napoleon wasn't too hot on chinese history eh? That's their whole deal in an nutshell, and now we have the modern-day soulless, docile chinaman to gloriously show for it. The ultimate mishmash of human mystery meat, born after thousand of years of serving as the dirty cumrag of every single barbarian tribe around without respite and very little self-rule.